The Merging Music Monster

What do you get when you combine the nation’s largest ticketing company with the nation’s biggest concert promoter? Answer: the  monster of the music industry and a town of unhappy music lovers.

In February of 2009, Live Nation and Ticketmaster began negotiations for a merger between the two giants, essentially creating one monster company called Live Nation Entertainment that combined their ticketing, marketing, data centers and back-offices, according to their press release.

“The companies will be combined in a tax-free, all-stock merger of equals with a combined enterprise of $2.5 billion…Live Nation and Ticketmaster shareholders will each own approximately 50 percent of the combined company,” the press release read.

On January 25, 2010 the United States Department of Justice finally approved the merger between the two competitors, thus creating a huge monopoly being forced upon the music industry, concert-goers and music fans.

“The merger, as originally proposed, would have substantially lessened competition for primary ticketing in the United States, resulting in higher prices and less innovation for consumers,” as read in the Department of Justice’s announcement.

With Athens being the music town that it is, this monster merger may cause problems for many of the local music halls and music lovers.

“It’s never a good thing when there’s a monopoly in any field. When there’s no competition, they can do whatever they want,” said Savannah Weeks, a 21-year-old Music Business student at the University of Georgia.

The central argument for the opposers  of the merger stand by the fact that concert-goers have no choice but to pay the prices and fees set forth by Live Nation Entertainment to see their favorite musicians. They have no legitimate alternative to turn to if they are unsatisfied with or overcharged by this ticketing conglomerate.

“I wanted to go to the Coldplay show this summer, but the tickets were $30, a $20 parking fee, a $13 convenience charge and there may have been another venue fee. I just couldn’t afford it,” said Weeks. “I feel like the real victim is unfortunately the music fan.”

Music venues in Athens have opted to use other ways of selling tickets online, so they don’t support the monopoly at hand.

“ We don’t use Ticketmaster for this exact reason,” said Lewis Brown, senior music business major and employee of New Earth Music Hall on West Dougherty Street. “We want to help out the little guy, not the monster who is eating up all our money.”

Lexi Irvin, senior music business major and employee of the 40 Watt on West Washington Street agrees.

“ The merger is really putting a damper on the shows that I’m able to go see,” said Irvin. “It’s not really affecting the small local shows here, but the big name shows in Atlanta is where prices really increase and the customer can see their money being practically stolen from them, service fee after service fee.”

Many customers were not even aware of the merger or where their money was going, but did notice the price increase.

“I had no idea this was going on,” said Eliza McArthur, senior sociology major. “ I just bought a My Morning Jacket ticket from Ticketmaster and their Website said nothing about this. But my ticket price did rise from $45 to $60 after all the charges had been added on to it. It’s ridiculous.”

For now, music fans and lovers alike will have to join the monster if they can’t beat him.

Most funds for mayor campaigns come from donors outside of Athens

            It takes money to make money. In this case it takes money to run for mayor of Athens.  But where exactly does the money come from?

            The five hopefuls who have officially announced their candidacy for mayor of Athens are Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Nancy Denson, Athens Area Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Spencer Frye, retired state labor official and pastor Charlie Maddox, and students Glenn Stegall and Brandon Shinholser.

            Thus far, the candidates have raised a combined $72, 084; however, figures from recent reports show two clear leaders emerging: Denson and Frye.

            Denson currently leads the money race, with a total of $29, 552. She credits this large amount to donations of all sizes from members of the community.  But they are not the only ones supporting Denson.

            Quite a few of her contributors in this past quarter are not local at all. Documents from that last quarter reveal that five of the donors are from a state other than Georgia and that another seven are from cities other than Athens.

            This is only out of 30 contributors, and ends up being less than half. The percentage does not seem very significant, but the financial impact is. These 12 donors contributed to over half of Denson’s full amount for the past quarter.

            Their donations reached a sum of $10,107, which is 53 percent of the total amount collected from Jan. 1 to March 31 of this year, $19,070. The two largest single contributions came from two people who do not live in Georgia. Both donated $2,400 to support Denson in her campaign.

            Why are individuals in Cedar Hill, Texas and Waymart, Pa. contributing to a campaign for mayor of Athens? Ga.?

            They could be individuals who have residences in both Athens and their respective other towns. They could also be extremely interested and active in the politics of Athens, Ga., but that does not seem very realistic.

            Most likely they are friends and family members of Denson and are contributing to support her in her campaign, and there is nothing wrong with that right?

            Well except for the fact that Denson was quoted in the Athens Banner Herald saying, “I feel like I’m getting extremely good support from the community, some I haven’t expected.” Denson is right that she is getting extremely good support, only recently most of it’s coming from members outside of the community.

            Using numbers from the past quarter, on average a contributor from Athens gave Denson approximately $498, a contributor from a city other than Athens gave about $571, and a contributor from a state other than Georgia gave on average a $1,200.

            The above calculations do not take into account the amount of wealth or the economic status of the other cities and states. Yet, it definitely says something when a mayoral candidate is getting more than half of her most recent contributions from places other than the very community in which she is running in.

            But this is not only happening in Denson’s campaign. Frye, who collected the second most this past quarter with a total of $10,883, has had many contributors from people outside of the Athens area as well.

            Documents show that of Frye’s 30 recent contributors, 12 are from cities other than Athens and another three are from states other than Georgia. While he raised a little over half of the amount that Denson raised, well over half of his contributions came from individuals with addresses outside of Athens.

            Sixty-eight percent of Frye’s contributions came from donors who do not reside in Athens. According to numbers from the most recent quarter, on average donors in Athens gave $264, donors in other cities gave $533.33 and donors in other states gave $487.50. These amounts are less than amounts from Denson’s various donors, but the 68 percent of total contributions cannot be ignored.

            Like Denson, Frye’s largest single contribution was $2,400 and came from a recording studio in Atlanta. Which again, poses the question of why a recording studio in Atlanta would care about a mayoral election in Athens?

            Denson and Frye came in well ahead of their competitors this quarter for total amount of contributions, but through their use of outside contributions are they setting a pace that is unfair to their competitors? Furthermore, what does it say, when the support they receive from outside areas exceeds the support each has from the place they hope to lead one day and call home?

Cigarette Litter Receptacle Proven Effective Against Littering

It’s green. It’s rectangular. It’s undeniably chic — and it’s what’s keeping cigarette butts off the streets of downtown, Athens. These artistically designed boxes are called Cigarette Litter Receptacle, better known as CLR.

Forty CLRs have been installed on parking meters as well as on light poles in pilot areas of downtown, according to the Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department.

The CLRs were created to give smokers a place to dispose their used cigarettes.

“A baseline count found 6, 207 butts on the sidewalk and in the gutters along bars and restaurants near West Washington, West Clayton, and North Lumpkin streets before street-sweepers came early in the morning to clear them away”, stated Blake Aued in his article for the Athens Banner-Herald.

“Thanks to the CLRs, a four month study in the city indicated that cigarette trash was reduced up to 54 percent,” said Rachael Widener, technology manager at The University of Georgia.

“In general, we saw reductions each time we did the scans,” Stacee Farrell, executive director of Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, told the Athens Banner Herald.

According to the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP), if cigarette butts remain on the ground and are not disposed of properly, it can cause some damage economically as well as environmentally.

The CLPP states that cigarette butt litter creates blight which accumulates in gutters and outside doorways and bus shelters. This is an issue because, according to the CLPP, it “creates a sense that no one cares, leading to more community disorder and crime.”  It also pollutes the water and can harm wildlife.

About 18 percent of litter, traveling primarily through storm water systems, ends up in local streams, rivers and waterways, according to the CLPP.

The idea for the receptacles came forth when indoor smoking was banned in 2005, according to the Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department,

“The design of the CLRs was a joint effort of Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, the Athens-Clarke County government’s stormwater division and public information office, the Tobacco Prevention Coalition, the Athens Downtown Development Authority, and the Athens Design Development program”, Diana Hartle told the Athens Banner-Herald.

“Our CLR is a very sturdy litter receptacle designed for busy urban areas.  There is a stub-out grate on the interior of the slot.  The cigarette is stubbed out and just dropped in,” said Didi Dunphy, one of the designers of the CRL for the Athens Design Development.

“The CLR holds a good volume of trash at which time of being full can be emptied,” said Dunphy.  “The pivot mechanism allows for the receptacle to spin down and the contents emptied into whatever trash bag or other trash unit.”

Dunphy adds that the receptacle is approximately 256 cubic inches in volume capacity and the design helps keep the disposed contents dry.

Thus far, the CLR has received two awards. The first award was for first place in the State Litter Prevention category and the second was for a second place National Award for “outstanding efforts to engage individuals in the implementation of the National Cigarette Litter Prevention Program,” according to the CLR website.

“As a downtown resident, I have definitely noticed a difference since the receptacles have been in place,” said Kelly Girtz, District 9 Commissioner. “Areas that have them installed seem cleaner by far.”

“Sunny” Day in ACC Government

Sometimes, in order to make your government a better place, all you have to do is ask.

Students from the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism conducted an open records audit of Athens-Clarke County during the month of March. Students went to government offices and requested specific records like business licenses, police records, and minutes from board meetings. The class also conducted an audit of some University records including police incident records, employment contracts, and yearly budgets.
The audit was conducted through the Georgia Student Sunshine Audit program in conjunction with the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. The GFAF aims to advance “the cause of open government and freedom of information through education and advocacy.” Those who might be concerned about ACC transparency need not worry, the government agencies passed the test with a few minor exceptions. In a few cases, the records requested did not exist or required extra time to find. Most of the students had little difficulty in obtaining the physical records, though getting over their fears proved hard.

“The procedure to attain records always seemed intimidating to me,” wrote Grady student Zhiyang Yu, “but now that I’ve actually placed a request, I’ve got more confidence to procure these things in the future.”

The process can seem intimidating but citizens of Georgia have the right to request documentation from their governments.

Suha Zakiuddin knew more about the Freedom of Information Act than the officials handling the annual budget did.
“I learned that not everyone knows what the FOI act is all about,” wrote Zakiuddin. “In my experience, the person I spoke to needed help because he never had a records request before.”

The record handlers did not turn over information at all in the only complete request failure.

“I’ve requested records for stories in the past and never had a problem getting them,” wrote Robert Carnes, “but here I was unable to procure a copy or even see the original.”

“Sunshine” laws are open record laws set in place in order to promote openness between the government and the people. The laws stem from the Freedom of Information Act signed by President Johnson in 1966 and amended by President Clinton in 1996. The basic principal behind the laws places most of the responsibility for the records on the government. Specific documents must be filed correctly and be readily available for any citizen who requests them, not just journalists. If the record keepers refuse, citizens can write a letter describing the law that allows them to request such papers and why it is the government organization’s duty to turn them over. The state of Georgia is often considered to have one of the most lenient open record laws in the United States.

Before the students asked for the records, they were briefed by a representative from the GFAF on how to remain under the radar and not appear like they were conducting an audit. Students were encouraged to dress nicely but not mention they were students. Under the open records laws, one does not have to mention what their occupation is, their name, or even what they want the records for. The audit was used as an exercise for journalism students to learn how to request records easily. But the general public could benefit from this knowledge too, say Grady professors.

Open records are vital to a journalist’s job, says Grady College professor Barry Hollander. The general public does not ask for these types of records often but they need to know that they are available at any time, he said. Hollander pointed out a recent local case where Hustler Magazine requested the crime scene photos of a murdered University of Georgia graduate. The Senate and the House passed bills to prohibits the release of the photos depicting the headless body along with other lewd crime-scene photos and recordings from 911 calls that include suffering victims.
“Larry Flynt, merely by asking for them, and the idea that they might be in Penthouse was enough to make the legislature to overreact and close something that has always been open record,” he said. “What if there’s a suspicious death? And a journalist comes along and wonders ‘Maybe this person was killed by deputies or someone with power enough to get it closed.’ If you can no longer get the autopsy and images, it’s very hard to investigate and challenge the government’s decision on that case.”

By auditing the local government, the Grady students hope that it will keep ACC records open and available to the public. Not just because records are handy to have, but because it’s the law.

Hoping for a Home

Jackie Roberts wipes the sweat from her brow, shifting the heavy stones she holds in her arms. Her driveway is coming along nicely; the volunteers from across Athens have been working for hours now in the sweltering heat. It is hard work to build a home, but for Roberts, just getting the permission to was half the battle.
Roberts, a University of Georgia employee, is the new owner of 155 Valleybrook Drive, a house that had been vehemently opposed by several members of her new Forest Heights neighborhood. Roberts is one of the many new homeowners in Athens that received help from the Athens Land Trust in order to make her dreams come true. The Athens Land Trust works to protect properties under conservation easements and offers affordable housing for Athens residents with low income.
Roberts’ home is a unique property for the land trust. Generally, the trust takes older properties and renovates them. Everything from siding and landscaping to plumbing and electrical get updated to code and, more recently, become more environmentally friendly. Roberts’ house was built from the ground up on a viciously sloping lot, creating many problems for the designers. The slope of the lot forced designers to work several unconventional floor plans into the design. The result was a very modern house that differed from the half-century old homes directly across the street.
All of the difficulties with the design were nothing compared to the opinions of the neighborhood. When the idea was proposed to build a slightly modern looking, environmentally friendly house in the older area, neighbors were concerned about how well it would fit in the area. The large amount of construction and constant flow of volunteers irked neighbors.
“It’s not like I couldn’t see what they were getting at,” said Roberts. “I’d be a be worried too if a really modern looking house showed up in my neighborhood with a lot of people making a lot of noise.”
The aesthetic value of the house, however, was the least of the neighborhood’s worries. Since Roberts bought the house through the land trust program, she pays far less than what she would normally have to for a house. Some neighbors worried that the house might drive down property values in the area.
“Some very mean-spirited things were said,” said Roberts. “They acted like we were just going to drain them of money and put up an eye-sore of a house just to spite them.”
Neighbor Abbey Griffin recalls several meetings being held about the issues surrounding Roberts’ house.
“There were times when it got ugly,” said Griffin. “People were talking about legal action against the trust and Jackie. There was even some stuff on the Internet about it.”
Requests to interview the organizers of these meetings were declined.
Members of the Athens Land Trust began contacting neighbors in attempts to outline the plan for the property and alleviate any fears that neighbors might have. According to volunteers, the neighborhood began to accept the property, especially after meeting with Roberts and her family. On one volunteer day, the family and land trust volunteers were landscaping when members of the neighborhood began to drop by and offer assistance.
“That’s when I knew everything was going to be alright,”said Roberts. “Some neighbors are still a little iffy about the house itself but they understand me and my kids. They know we wanted a home. That’s all I ask.”
The neighbors began expressing interest in the “green” aspects of the home, especially the rain chain. Instead of traditional gutters, a chain hangs from the edge of the house, collecting rain water and filtering it into a basin. The house itself was built for maximum positive environmental impact. The neighbors have latched on to some ideas from Roberts home and used them in their own lives.
“We made recycling bins like Jackie has,” said Griffin. “And we’re looking at her appliances and trying to get ideas for how our house could be more green.”
Roberts and her family will officially move into their new home on April 16, 2010 after a ribbon cutting ceremony held by the Athens Land Trust. The designers of the house, volunteers, Mayor Davison, and ACC commissioners are expected to be in attendance.
“I’m just so glad to see it finished,” said Roberts. “I can finally go home.”